


The Girlfriend Thing

by moonflowery



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff, Humor, One Shot, Post-Canon, as they try and fail to get their shit together, everyone is just really gay and i love them, plot twist helena is okay this time and now dinah gets hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23241820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonflowery/pseuds/moonflowery
Summary: Something goes wrong. One mission of the Birds of Prey is almost done when Black Canary is attacked by surprise, leaving Huntress to take care of her as well as she possibly can.The result is one long night of Dinah and Helena finally having to deal with their feelings and their relationship.
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance, Huntress/Black Canary
Comments: 29
Kudos: 211





	The Girlfriend Thing

The ambulance was moving at full speed through the streets of Gotham, its siren blaring loudly, startling everyone nearby. However, this wasn’t the usual scenario. First of all, the ambulance wasn’t moving toward the hospital, and the driver was far from a certified one. Behind the wheel was the one and only, Harley Quinn. She had a big smile on her lips, and at one point, when the side of the vehicle crashed against a man that hadn’t seen her coming, she loudly laughed.

“Harley! What the fuck?! Did you just ran someone over?!” Renee Montoya yelled at her from somewhere in the back.

“Don’t stress yourself, lady cop. I promise he was a bad, bad guy! And I owe him a bunch of money I ain’t going to pay him.” Harley replied, then proceeded to ignore Renee’s frustrated groans, and instead focused on swapping away the hand of the kid sitting beside her that was trying to mess with the controls on the dashboard. “Keep your hands to yourself kid,” she said, pouting and cringing a little as the distractions made her scratch the side of the ambulance against one or two parked cars. Why didn’t anyone let her drive in peace? Without their distractions, she’d probably be better at it. Maybe.

“Why the fuck did you even steal an ambulance?” Cassandra Cain wondered, relentlessly trying to touch anything she wasn’t allowed to.

“I’ve always wanted to!” Harley excitedly explained with a smile. “The siren! Isn’t it pretty?” She smiled and closed her eyes, delighted in the frenzied clamor she was responsible for. When the ambulance jumped a little bit after bumping onto something on the road that she hadn’t seen, she quickly opened her eyes and tried to focus on the task at hand, not without adding, “Plus, the dorky, lawful birds at the back are probably super thankful for me right now.”

“I’d be thankful if you would hurry the _fuck_ up, Harley! And focus, for God’s sake!”

The angry roar from the back of the ambulance, of course, came from Huntress. Asking the very unreliable driver, and person, that was Harley Quinn to drive even faster than she already was, was probably something terribly unwise, but Huntress was desperate. In her lap, she was holding on to Black Canary, who was slipping in and out of consciousness.

They had just finished a mission that night, it had been a big one, a special one, and also one of the few that didn’t end up completely well for them. It had been a couple of weeks since all of them had first met, and since then, the Birds of Prey and Harley and Cass met on a few occasions. Sometimes, Cass just wanted to say hi, even if each time it meant she had to convince them that they should totally _not_ arrest Harley, they could not prove she was the actual Harley Quinn the police was looking for again, could they? Other times, it was because Harley, and even Cass sometimes, were seemingly physically unable to stay out of trouble. Whenever they angered the wrong people they knew of three women that would always have their backs, or at least would do anything to save Cass and pretend that saving Harley was merely a consequence. However, sometimes, it was because they were working together again.

Years of being involved in that scene had given Harley a remarkable knowledge of every bad guy in Gotham. So when their usual sources failed, the Birds of Prey knew the right woman to give them a hint. Alternatively, when the wrong guy pissed Harley off, and she knew the law was also searching for him, she didn't mind giving a call to Renee and arrange so they could kick the guy's ass together. This had been the case this time, except that the guy had more backup than expected.

The fight had taken place at the Founder’s Pier, an already haunting place that was made even worse for the group of women that could swear they still heard the echo of Roman Sionis’ voice along with the crashing of the waves below them. They have had the upper hand, they were about to win. Black Canary used her special power and it was more than enough to settle their triumph. However, men like the ones they were fighting with, once they started to lose they didn’t care as much about winning as they did about hurting others as much as possible. One guy had attacked Black Canary from the back when she had been halfway through her canary cry. All he managed to do was push her off the pier, but considering that she still passed out of exhaustion each time she used her powers, that was a really dangerous thing.

Huntress had immediately fired her crossbow at the guy and jumped after Black Canary. Behind her, Harley and Renee made sure the man was dead, dead and dead again, while they waited for Cass to get the vehicle to pick them up. She wasn’t old enough to drive, but that wasn’t part of the spectrum of security rules that Harley cared about.

In any way, Huntress had reached Black Canary just in time it seemed. She carried her body out of the water and to the beach, where she lived through painfully terrifying moments until they managed to get Dinah to start coughing up water and make sure she was still alive. For someone who’s bigger part of her personality thus far in life had been revenge for the loss of her loved ones, Helena had been ill-prepared to face the possibility of once again losing somebody she’d grown to care deeply about. 

To say Helena was tense would be an understatement. Even when they were all finally inside the ambulance that would relatively safely bring them to their sort of home, she was terrified. Her brain was working on overdrive, asking herself if she had been too slow. If she could have seen the guy coming earlier, if she shouldn't have stopped to kill him and just jumped after Dinah, if she could have swim faster. On top of that, she was holding Dinah's body. The one body that made her more nervous than anything else. The one body that she considered to be too beautiful for her to look at and simultaneously so beautiful that she couldn't tear her eyes away from it. But right now, right now Dinah's body was weak and vulnerable, and Helena had no idea how to find a balance between holding her carefully and delicately or protectively and strongly. She felt clueless.

Dinah wasn't very sure what was going on. Opening her eyes seemed like too much work. All her strength was used on trying to keep breathing, just as a sweet voice keep asking her to. "Keep breathing, it's okay, you'll be fine, I got you."

_Helena. Helena. Helena._

Dinah recognized that voice. How couldn't she? Even when her mind was filling up with a fog alike the one at the Founder's Pier. Even lost between dreams or memories. She recognized that voice.

_Helena..._

_Many of the Birds of Prey decisions were simply logical choices. It made sense to work together, because they worked well together. It made sense to buy an old warehouse they could use as headquarters for training and whatnot. It also seemed reasonable to spend the night there after a mission. Truthfully, they were starting to spend a lot of time there. It made sense, Dinah told herself. Just like she told herself that it made sense that Helena "trained to kill and nothing else since age nine" Bertinelli was the first one to wake up every day. What she couldn't find a logical, reasonable, or practical explanation for, was why did she feel so many butterflies in her stomach by hearing her teammate talk to herself when she thought everyone else was asleep._

_Renee was still snoring quite loudly, and Dinah had been asleep too. When she heard some noises she tried to drown them out, but her damned instincts that went against her desired sleep woke her up and focused on the noises. Quickly, she realized there was not a threat in the room with them, but that was Helena's voice. Softly talking to herself as she went about her morning routine._

_"Clothes... Let's see... No, no, why would I? Yes, but do I? Uh, what the fuck. Harley, probably..." Helena mumbled, completely oblivious that Dinah was no longer deeply asleep, but only pretending. "Now what? Yes, yes, of course, I knew that. What if, what if... Tuesday? It's Tuesday. But what would I even say? How was that song anyway?"_

_Dinah had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing and ruining her newfound espionage mission, or from smiling too big she'd hurt her cheeks or something. Because the truth was, she almost started squealing as she listened to Helena. Was that the murderous, cool and mysterious crossbow killer, self-proclaimed Huntress? Because Dinah’s current emotions were more around the range of emotions she felt whenever she met a cute puppy or a baby on the streets. She could no longer keep quiet about how goddamned adorable this whole scenario was, she was just about ready to rise up from the bed, go running to wherever Helena was and have the time of her life teasing her about this for the rest of their lives or until Helena blushed so much she would be permanently red. Not that Dinah wanted to be mean to her, she was quite understanding her struggles with social interaction, but how could she pass up the opportunities to affectionately make fun of Helena when she did stuff so freaking adorable? Besides, she had the theory that this tough love worked really well on helping her adapt to... society, yeah._

_In any way, Dinah's plans were frustrated because apparently Helena remembered that song she had been talking about. Without any warning, Helena started singing. Her voice shook Dinah to her core. She loved singing, she loved listening to music and others sing, but this was entirely new. Helena's singing voice was so sweetly unexpected, so perfectly out of place compared to the way she usually carried herself. It made Dinah feel like she had been waiting to hear her entire life. She suddenly realized she had a knot on her throat, but it was welcomed. She relaxed, she listened intently, and against her wishes, she ended up falling asleep once again under the spell of Helena's voice._

"Dinah, stay with me, _please_ ," Helena whispered on the back of the ambulance. She whispered, because she didn't want Harley, Cass or Renee to hear her say please. She was a killer, she didn't say please. But she would have begged anything and anyone if it meant Black Canary would be alright.

When they finally reached their headquarters, Helena carried Dinah inside, being as careful as she could but not faltering or showing any signs of exhaustion not even for a moment.

“Look at that!” Harley exclaimed, poking Helena’s bicep with a finger, “You gotta carry me around too someday, crossbow killer.”

“Fuck off,” Helena grumbled, moving away to take Dinah to one of the couches they had in that place.

Harley stayed behind with a pout, turned to face Cass and while flexing one of her arms she said, “Hey kid, do you think I could beat her?” She was just kidding, she was just curious, but Harley’s curiosity was always a dangerous thing.

However, Cass just outright laughed, “No,” she said, and walked towards the kitchen.

“You’re wrong!” Harley yelled after her, earning them both a scold from Renee.

Meanwhile, Helena fussed around, trying to make sure Dinah was comfortable in the couch, with enough spare pillows and blankets. But Helena was starting to realize that among her lack of social skills, the fact that she was raised by assassins and also isolated from the world also left her with what looked like a serious lack of delicacy in her movements. When she tried to fix the pillows, she was a little rough and Dinah had groaned in discomfort, frightening Helena, making her hastily jump away from her, accidentally knocking into Renee.

“Hey, careful there,” Renee grumbled, but then when she stood beside Helena, making sure Dinah was settled down alright, she said much more gently, “She’s going to be fine, you know?”

Helena frowned, stayed quiet for a moment and then asked, “I know?”

The retired officer shook her head in amusement. “She will be fine. This just… happens. It’s part of the job, part of us, part of the life we chose.”

The last sentence sounded much like the cheesy lines from movies that made the rest of the group tease her endlessly, so much so that the chuckle they heard came from none other than the previously unconscious Dinah Lance. “Shut up, Montoya.”

Satisfied by seeing her teammate alive and not in the mood to stand for their teasing, Renee walked away, flipping them off, leaving Helena and Dinah alone.

“She’s right, though,” Dinah added, staring up at Helena with a tired smile and eyes that were ready to close again, “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me, I’m a tough one.”

She doesn’t look so tough right now, Helena thought but stayed quiet. She looked at Dinah, laying on the couch, her clothes still wet, as well as her hair. But she didn’t complain. No one else suggested taking off the clothes, and Helena knew she’d probably die of mortification if she were to mention taking off Dinah’s clothes. Would it even be possible to take those tight pants off, to begin with? Helena shook her head to get rid of the thought. 

The point remained that Dinah looked unusually vulnerable at that moment. She looked exhausted, she looked a little fragile. It was terrifying for Helena, because she hadn’t imagined that Dinah was able of anything other than being the most confident, strongest, most beautiful, capable and resilient woman in the room. True, that may be just Helena’s lovestruck perception, but it was undeniable that this was an unusual look for Black Canary. It might have had something to do with the fact that she felt safe, like she could relax, rest, take the time to get back on her feet, because she was aware that her friends, and particularly Helena, was going to stay by her side no matter what. But the scene was too emotional for Helena, she couldn’t bear to even stand still.

Helena kneeled down then, beside the couch where Dinah was resting and she whispered, “Are you _sure_ you’re going to be alright?”

Dinah only hummed in response. It was an affirmation, but Helena needed more. As scared as she was to step over social rules she was unaware of, or hurting the woman in front of her, she also couldn’t fight the need to reach out and as gently as she knew how to do it, grab one of Dinah’s hands.

The touch made the other woman open her eyes and blink a few times to focus on the face in front of her. The one face she loved so much. The sight of Helena kneeling beside her, worry showing in her face clear as day, took Dinah’s breath away. “I will be okay, I promise,” she smiled, “I just need a nap.”

Helena tried to imitate the soft smile Dinah kindly showed her, but it probably came out as a grimace. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Will you wake up?”

Dinah hadn’t been expecting that. If Helena thought Dinah looked fragile laying on the couch like that, then Dinah found her twice as vulnerable kneeling beside her like that, almost begging for a confirmation that she wasn’t going to lose her. Dinah could notice all the emotions overflowing in Helena’s eyes, even if she had no real way of knowing that the moments between when Helena saw her fall from the pier and when she next saw her open her eyes at the beach, had been the scariest minutes Helena had lived in many, many years. 

“I will,” Dinah softly replied, “For you,” she winked. She couldn’t help but be playful with Helena, not when the woman reacted like she’d seen a ghost each and every time. Except for this time, because Helena finally managed a genuine smile. If Dinah was well enough to tease her as usual, she’d have to be fine, she would be fine, Helena told herself.

Dinah closed her eyes, and while Helena considered not moving from her place holding Dinah’s hand until the woman woke up, Dinah let herself fall asleep. She rested comfortably, knowing Helena was watching her, and knowing too, that it wasn’t the first time something like that happened. Her last thought, accompanied by a memory, was that she hoped it also wouldn’t be the last time this happened.

_Helena swiftly finished her latest glass and grimaced, "That was gross."_

_"Yes," Renee quickly agreed, "What the fuck did you put in our glasses, Harley?" She was slurring, She was drunk enough to willingly decide to stop, and that was a truly rare thing for Renee Montoya._

_From her place sitting on the floor, Harley scoffed. "I have no idea! A little bit of everything we had left, I guess. I just... are you seeing her?!" she wildly gestured towards Helena, who was very confused and only raised a questioning eyebrow. "I'm about to pass out, you're about to pass out, and Dinah has been giggling like a child for ten minutes." Hearing Harley's words, Dinah burst out laughing, cradling her cup against her face, enjoying the coolness of it on her heated face. "And madame the killer crossbow murderer is looking all cool and... and cool and shit. How are you not drunk?!" Harley threw her arms up in frustration._

_From her comfortable place on the couch, Helena shrugged. "How are you always drunk?"_

_Harley gasped dramatically, then huffed, "Whatever!" and after three or four attempts, she managed to get up from the floor. "If you'll excuse moi me, ladies and cop. I'm gonna go pass out in your bathroom, again." With an exaggerated bow that almost sent her back down to the floor, she started walking away, waving at a sleeping Renee and Cass on her way to the bathroom._

_Truth be told, Helena was actually pretty drunk. That was why she hadn't stood up in a while, even though she desperately needed the bathroom that now would be occupied. She didn't want her teammates and... friends, she hesitantly thought the word in her mind, to see her stumble, act dizzy and vulnerable and anything less than ready to kill a man if she had to. To be fair, she did have better resistance to alcohol than the rest of the group. She had been raised by men twice her size and just as she did in their training, she forced herself to keep up with them even with drinking. She didn't drink that much because if she wanted her body to function as perfectly as she needed it to, she simply couldn't. But apparently that was more than enough to impress her friends. At least, considering that Harley's personality was a constantly fun and friendly and potentially violent drunk, and that Renee was persistently drunk and Dinah just couldn't compete._

_"It's because you're too tall," Dinah slurred, falling on the couch just inches away from Helena, who immediately tensed, and even held her breath for a moment. "The alcohol takes to long to go from here to here," Dinah happily commented, and as she spoke she poked a finger on Helena's stomach and then on her head. Not very delicately, if Helena were to judge, but she wouldn't._

_"I guess..." Helena mumbled. A small smile appeared on her lips. She liked having Dinah around, she could admit that much. It was also undeniable that she made her impossibly nervous but, drunk like she was? Dinah seemed inoffensive, and like she probably wouldn't remember anything in the morning. So, Helena relaxed against the back of the couch, only remotely remembering she had wanted to pee._

_"Oh! Abs!" Dinah just went back to poking at Helena's stomach, happy with her discoveries of the strong muscles she knew were underneath her clothes._

_"Dinah!" Helena laughed. She was blushing, obviously, but she was also enamored and surprisingly at ease with this drunk and loose version of Black Canary. She reached out to grab Dinah's finger to stop her attack that was starting to tickle. When Dinah struggled, Helena just grabbed her hand and then neither of them just pulled back at all. The resulting position was Helena holding Dinah's hand in her lap, and Dinah staring at her with sleepy eyes and a content smile._

_Helena’s heart suddenly started to race. This was too close. She could feel Dinah's warmth glowing beside her, she could feel their sides touching, she also felt like she could die if Dinah came any closer. To Helena's terror and excitement, she noticed that Dinah's eyes stopped staring at her own, and moved down, to her lips? Her neck? Even further down? But then they kept going down. Where are they going, Helena wondered with the last functioning part of her brain. She soon got her answer._

_"You should be careful with this sweater," Dinah mumbled._

_"What?"_

_That was unexpected. Helena looked down at herself. She was wearing a comfortable black knit sweater. It was nice and she knew she needed more clothes other than what she wore on their missions. It was just a little bit big, the sleeves going beyond her wrists, covering half of her hands. She genuinely liked it and she would have felt terrible if Dinah had a problem with it, but to her surprise, it was the complete opposite._

_"Yup," Dinah smacked her lips and nodded confidently, "it looks way too soft. Someone could go falling asleep on you."_

_Before Helena could dumbfoundedly ask what she meant, Dinah wordlessly got comfortable, cuddling up to Helena, moving closer, letting her head fall on her shoulder and interlocking the fingers of their hands. She sighed contently, and judging by the sudden weight and how she just stopped moving, Helena was happy and impressed to realized Dinah had just about passed out at that moment. She suddenly felt very light, and a drunk spark of anxiety made her wonder if this had finally been too much and her soul was leaving her body. But then she smiled, “Okay,” she whispered as softly as possible. Helena then sighed, stretched her legs and hoped to fall asleep with the feeling of Dinah resting against her. Even if she had to ignore forever her need to go to the bathroom. She was just perfectly happy right there._

Slowly but surely, Dinah woke up for real this time, not just some glimpse at consciousness. It was still the middle of the night. She sighed and took notice of her surroundings. Did they seriously put her to sleep on her wet clothes? At least it was just the couch. She’ll kick all their asses if she got a cold because of this. Then she tried remembering the mission that apparently went a little wrong at the end. But she was still in one piece, it seemed, so maybe she wouldn’t kick all their asses. She remembered her friends kicking ass as usual, and she remembered having to use her canary cry as a good last blow to the losers. She knew something went wrong then, and she knew she ended up in the water. But she has no idea how she made it home and why on Earth did she had the vague feeling they had taken her to a hospital.

Deciding she needed to get to her own bed and change her clothes, Dinah slowly got up from the couch. Her entire body hurt, and to make matters worse, she jumped in fright when she heard a voice coming from beside her.

"You're awake!" Helena said happily, getting up from a different couch.

"Helena! Fuck, you scared me!" Dinah exclaimed, putting the palm of her hand on her chest.

"I'm sorry!"

Helena genuinely looked like a kicked puppy, and Dinah forced a smile to let her know it was all good. "It's okay, I just need to change clothes and go to bed."

"How are you feeling?" Helena asked, following Dinah.

Dinah shrugged, "I'll be okay. Can you tell me what even happened tonight?"

"It's okay, he's dead now."

Helena's deadpan answer made Dinah chuckle. She had to cover her mouth to stifle the sound, realizing the rest of her friends were soundly asleep and probably not looking forward to being disturbed from their sleep.

"That's not what I meant, but I'll let it slide for now," she smiled at her friend and started looking for clothes on her drawers.

The warehouse was far from being a regular home. They didn't exactly have rooms, just spaces, and areas with certain purposes and vaguely separated from each other. They had a few things that resembled walls, but it was nearly just an open space. So, Helena hadn't exactly considered the consequences of following Dinah around, not until she saw her just casually take off her top.

Helena made a noise between a gasp and a cough and she hastily turned her back to Dinah. They both had their backs to each other, but Dinah had easily seen this coming. She chuckled and for a few moments, she kept from making any comments, figuring she could let Helena get over the heart attack, but then again... "Helena... you can look if you want to, you know?"

Afterward, there was absolute silence. In the distance, Harley snored, but neither Dinah or Helena paid her any mind. After what felt like an eternity, Helena found it in herself to slowly turn back around to face Dinah. However…

Dinah immediately chuckled loudly at Helena's face of confusion. Dinah was already dressed up in fresh, clean and dry pajamas. That sight was also usually pretty impressive for Helena, but she had thought…

"Well I'm glad to know you _wanted_ to look," Dinah shrugged. she couldn't hide her mischievous smirk.

Helena couldn't possibly look more mortified than she did at that moment. "That's not what I... I didn't, I just… You said, and I didn’t, I..." she stuttered, and then, struck by a thought she blurted out, "You're glad?"

It was Dinah's turn to be left speechless. She genuinely didn't know what she could possibly reply. Helena's shy and nervous, but curious and hopeful eyes reminded her of a day not too long ago, when they were both glad to _know_ a few new things.

_The Birds of Prey had a new mission. As per usual, and because she couldn’t help herself or she refused to give up her police officer methods, Renee Montoya was giving Black Canary and Huntress instructions on their new target. Or at least she was until she received a call from Ellen. This usually meant she dropped anything she had been doing in order to pick up the phone and talk, or argue, or makeup, or argue, or argue with her ex-girlfriend._

_Renee picked up her phone and went through the back door of the warehouse, leaving Dinah and Helena alone. Usually, Helena wasn't the chatty type, but something must have been on her mind. Because just a few moments later she turned towards Dinah and very seriously asked her, "Hey, um, so... what's the problem between Renee and this Ellen person?"_

_She looked so confused that before Dinah could make the reasonable choice to give it a second thought, she just spurted out, "Oh my God Helena you do know about gay people, right?" It wouldn't be the first time that they'd had to explain something seemingly obvious to the woman that had grown up in some isolated place of Italy, but…_

_"Of course I fucking know!" Helena replied, showing her anger that at this point was as familiar as her face for everyone around her, "I was raised in Italy not in a cave, for fuck’s sake! Of course I know about gay people. I am!" Her sudden outburst ended up in a screeching halt that was pretty amusing for Dinah to watch. "I am... well aware. I am well aware." She ended up mumbling, her anger quickly exchanged for embarrassment. Her cheeks quickly gaining a red shade that Dinah found equal parts amusing and endearing._

_"Oh yeah?" Dinah replied with a playfully challenging tone, "Well... I am kind of _well aware_ too." She delighted in the sweet shock in Helena's face. The taller woman was so obviously trying to not show the onslaught of emotions going on inside her, but a small excited smile was winning over her determination. She's adorable, she looks gorgeous, she's so... too much. Why was it that most times she tried to tease Helena she ended up with her plan backfiring and her own feelings setting a riot inside her? The only thing she knew what to do in those situations was to deflect. So she finally added, "So yeah, Renee too... and Harley too." There was a matter of labels and better, more accurate explanations that were lacking at the moment, but there'd be time for clarifications later, Dinah thought._

_"Harley?" Helena wondered, she looked taken aback for a second, deep in thought. But then her features relaxed and she shrugged, "Yeah, okay, Makes total sense." Dinah could only laugh at that perfect reaction. But Helena wasn’t done, “You still don’t tell me what happened between Renee and Ellen though.”_

_Dinah smiled. Helena was curious, and gossiping about their friends’ love lives was something so pleasantly normal that Dinah had to bite her lip to keep from spilling out in a jumble of words the joy she felt for Helena slowly but surely adjusting to her new not-isolated, not-exclusive-training-and-revenge life. A tender emotion washed over Dinah and when she looked Helena, always sincere and beautiful Helena, she felt so many of her own walls come down._

_“Everything has happened between them,” Dinah said with a dramatic air of mystery that she was delighted to see made Helena smile. “It’s a long story though, why don’t you let me tell you over dinner someday? Just the two of us.”_

_Without missing her usual deer in the highlights looks for situations like this, Helena took her time to answer. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but in the end, she managed to nod a few times and stutter out a simple, “Okay.”_

_A moment later, Renee burst back into their place. Apparently it wasn't one of the good phone calls. She shook her head and grumbled under her breath, "I hate women."_

_For a brief instant, Helena looked utterly confused, and Dinah had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Then, as if a lightbulb had turned on inside her mind, Helena brightened up and turned toward Dinah, "That's sarcasm," she proudly announced, both of them started laughing even if for different reasons._

Shaking her head to wake herself up from the memory, Dinah tried to focus on finding a new way to deflect but, once again, it was likely it'd turn against her. Did she mind, though?

"Come on, let's go to bed," she said, and tried not to show visibly how much it affected her internally to invite Helena to her bed. That was the difference between the two of them, she successfully kept her emotions at bay, while on the other hand, Helena looked like she’s been scared to death by the ghost she sees when Dinah flirts with her, even if she never completely gets that’s what’s happening. She jumped back, as if Dinah had pulled out a gun and was aiming at her, and knocked something over but didn't even turn to check what it was.

"It's okay, uh, I'm, I'm not, it's fine, the couch. I can go back to the couch."

"Oh don't be stupid. You don't fit in the couch you sexy giraffe."

"I'm not..." Helena started on her "anger issues" tone, but apparently, she didn't know exactly what she could be angry about, so she didn't even continue.

"Your bed is taken," Dinah reminded her, nodding in the general direction of where Harley, Cass and maybe Bruce if the hyena had followed the other two, were soundly asleep. "It's no big deal," she shrugged, for Helena's sake mostly, but also trying to convince herself.

Helena was silent for a long moment. She wasn’t even staring at Dinah exactly. She was staring at the bed, as if it was a horrible, big and scary thing that she’d have to face to save someone’s life. It was probably the most terrifying scenario that Helena hadn’t even imagined could take place that night, but she’d be lying if she said it didn’t light a spark of excitement inside her. She had her struggles with talking to people and fitting in in society in general, but she wasn’t entirely clueless. Not of the way humans worked, even less so of what her own body was screaming at her. The taller woman nodded slowly and looked down, "Right, okay," she mumbled.

A minute later, Helena and Dinah were laying in bed. Helena on one side, as closer to the edge as physically possible, and as tense and still as if she were about to go under surgery. Dinah, was on the other side of the bed, laying on her side and amusedly staring at Helena. She shouldn't, she probably really, really shouldn't. Because she was a good person, because maybe Helena went to bed with a knife on her pajama pants. But how couldn't she? 

Helena was so intensely focused on trying to keep calm and act normal and how she was probably terribly failing, that she had completely turned off her instincts and skills of a trained assassin. When she felt something poke at her ribs, she whimpered and tried and failed to jump out of bed, resulting in her simply falling down with a loud thud that was accompanied by Dinah’s amused giggles.

“Dinah what the _fuck?!_ ” Helena grumbled getting on her knees

“I’m sorry!” Dinah could barely speak, struggling to stop laughing at all. “I just… I just, come on,” she laughed one last time and finally managed to say more than two words, “Babe, you looked like you being put in a casket! Come on, get in. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

Helena grumbled under her breath and Dinah had the faint suspicion she was being insulted in Italian, but she let it slide. Helena got back into bed, this time getting genuinely comfortable, something she achieved by letting out her anger through punching the pillow until it felt just right. But if someone were to ask her what’s two plus two, she wouldn’t have been able to answer, her brain was reaching its limit. How could she focus on anything at all? All her thoughts were being pulled at from every angle. Dinah calling her babe, how this all seemed like a bad idea, how it felt like the best idea, how it hurt to fall from the bed, how she’d do it a thousand times just to hear Dinah laughing again.

“Why do you torture me?” Helena groaned.

Dinah was still staring at her, still unable to wipe the smile from her lips. Helena’s question made her remember how when she was a little girl, bolder and tougher than most, she used to pick on little boys that she kind of liked. Oh God, was she acting like a child? Apparently Helena wasn’t the only one struggling to make sense of her emotions.

“I’m really sorry, I don’t know why I do it,” Dinah whispered with a smile and shrug, even though she most definitely had an idea.

“What’d do you if I did the same huh?” Helena kept grumbling, unaware of Dinah’s internal revelations, “I could torture you too, you know?”

“Oh yeah? And how do you plan to do that, crossbow killer?”

Helena was silent for a while, genuinely considering the question, and finally, she said, “I could stop bringing stuff down from the higher shelves for you.”

The unexpected, adorable and hilarious answer just finished breaking down Dinah. She laughed out loud, not caring who woke up. The only thoughts that were allowed in her head were the sound of Helena’s chuckle at her own joke and a very special memory of one of the millions of times that Helena had unknowingly tortured her.

_It was summer in Gotham City. Regardless of the eccentricities of the city, the fact remained that the day was hot as hell. Luckily for the Birds of Prey, the warehouse they had acquired as the center of operations included a nice open space in the back where they had set up a training area for days like these when staying inside sounded like an awful idea. Additionally, they had woke up one day to discover the entire space had been refurnished. Accompanied by bright pink lawn flamingos, rainbow-colored umbrellas and lawn chairs, Harley Quinn had just found the perfect spot for her summer vacation, including an infamous teenage pickpocket and an impressively domesticated hyena. Everyone complained, but nobody actually did anything to fight her. Their days were surely more interesting this way._

_During one sunny afternoon, the entire group was outside, entertained in their separate ways. Dinah, for example, was hard at work in her training, currently almost done with an impressive number of sit-ups. Her eyes weren’t focused on anything in particular, but just by the sounds, she was capable of knowing exactly what each and every one of her friends was up to. There was music, of course, Harley’s eclectic selection. But Dinah knew how to listen to the more significant sounds hiding underneath. From her left, she heard Renee Montoya angry grunts and the violent thud of her knuckles meeting a punching bag. Her favorite way of exercising. From her right, Dinah could distinctly hear Harley’s annoying loud slurping of whatever cocktail she was drinking. She was wearing a bikini top even though they didn’t have a pool, a cut-off shorts adorned with rhinestones that were probably going to burn something down from the way the sun reflected on them. Every now and then Harley also joyfully chuckled at the scene in front of her that, judging by the sounds of it, Dinah could guess that Cass was giving Bruce a bath. There was the aggressive splashing of water and the sort of creepy laughs that came from the animal that luckily were balanced by the adorable giggles coming out of Cass. However, one sound in particular, even if not louder, was quickly stealing all of Dinah’s attention. Less angry than Renee, far less annoying than Harley, and quite the opposite from Cass’ adorableness… Helena was rhythmically grunting as she did an insane amount of push-ups._

_Dinah quickly lost count of her sit-ups, so she gave them up entirely. She sat up, rested her arms on her bent knees and stared straight ahead. Helena was right there. Lean, muscular, tense, sweating, intensely focused on her training. She preferred to train by herself, following her rules, her system, her quick and steady pace. Dinah sighed as she looked on. The muscles of Helena’s upper arms twitched with every movement, and along with them, Dinah felt her heart skip a beat. Helena’s short hair fell to one side, thankfully not totally obscuring her face, because the furrowed brows, hardened eyes, and clenched jaw were a sight to behold. Following the path of Helena’s unfairly long neck and strong shoulders, Dinah’s eyes were greeted by the sight of Helena’s back muscles hard at work in all their glory. Now that was just too much to take. When did the tall women even took off her tank top and stayed only with the sports bra underneath?_

_Dinah tightly closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, willing her mind to clear from the highly inappropriate thoughts making their way into the forefront of her mind. She had to consciously stop biting her lip, which she didn’t even know when she started doing, before it would start bleeding. However, with her eyes closed, her attention was once again in the sounds that surrounded her. But… other than the music, it was mostly quiet._

_Her eyes snapped opened. First, she checked on Cass, because she still didn’t trust the hyena. But of course, the sweet beast continued to prove her wrong. Bruce was laying on its back as Cass gave him belly rubs and dried his fur with a towel since the bath was apparently over. But there was more. Dinah turned to look at Harley. The blonde woman had lowered her pink sunglasses to the bridge of her now and she was looking… at Helena? Her eyes were wide as well as her grin. Did she have to smile at everyone like that? That seemed wrong. Dinah then looked at Renee, and she couldn’t believe what she saw. Renee was also looking at Helena. Attentively, with a frown, a hundred times more subtle than Harley, but looking nonetheless. Dinah couldn’t believe this. Technically, she could believe it and it made more than perfect sense. They were human and Helena was right there looking like that. But…. but…_

_“Helena!” Dinah called out to her._

_It had been an impulse. She just blurted it out. She had absolutely no plan. And if she had had it then it would have certainly evaporated from her mind the second she saw Helena stop her exercise to stand up and put her hands on her hips, showing off her abs in a way that if Dinah had been a cop she would have arrested her for public indecency. That was a total exaggeration. But maybe she could sue her for giving her a heart attack._

_“Dinah?” Helena asked, her head tilted to one side in confusion, “Did you call me?”_

_Oh, she’s talking to me, Dinah thought, nodding along to show she hadn’t been completely breaking down. Fuck, she cursed in her head, this wasn’t the way she usually was. If this is what Helena went through every time she flirted with her, maybe she should reconsider doing that because this felt like a genuine threat to her health._

_“Yeah, I… I need your help. With something.”_

_“Okay… with what?”_

_At this point, Dinah decided to stand up. Pleased to find out she didn't faint and her balance was still decent, she regained some control over herself. “Let me show you,” she said, then led the way to the inside of their place, letting the sounds behind them go back to the usual._

_Once inside, Dinah knew she had to think quickly. There was something that never failed her though. “Can you bring something down for me?” she asked with her best smile._

_The fact that Helena blushed just at the sight of Dinah’s smile was enough to bring some of her confidence back. But the fact that just as Helena asked “what do you want?” she also made a move to wipe the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand, simultaneously flexing her arm, showing her abs, and messing up her hair… well, Dinah not only felt in the brink of passing out, but she also had a sudden, very different idea of what she wanted._

_In the end, she only managed to dumbly stutter out “That,” and pointed to someplace to her right._

_“Renee’s whiskey?” Helena asked, completely confused._

_Dinah turned her head and realized that she, in fact, had somehow pointed at the bottle of whiskey that Harley had convinced Helena to place in the highest shelf they had, just to mess with Renee. She chuckled at the memory and figured out that fuck it, a shot might be a good idea at the moment._

_“Sure,” she said to Helena, smiling once again._

_“Sure…” Helena echoed her reply, still looking considerably confused._

_To her credit, Helena went along with Dinah without asking any questions. She brought down the bottle and saw that Dinah had brought out two shot glasses. She raised a questioning eyebrow while Dinah served them._

_“What? Don’t be boring. Have a drink with me,” Dinah smirked._

_“Okay,” Helena nodded and accepted the tiny glass that Dinah passed her way, she stared at it for a moment and asked, “Should we make a toast?”_

_Dinah chuckled affectionately. “Sure,” she shrugged, “To friendship?” she suggested, even though she could feel the word left an insincere taste on her tongue._

_But Helena smiled, and that sight was beautiful enough that Dinah decided in that instant that she’d be content to call Helena just a friend for the rest of her life if it meant she’d see that smile again and again._

_“To friendship,” Helena repeated and then both drank from their glasses._

_There was a comfortable silence afterward. They were lingering, not in a hurry to leave this intimate bubble of peace they were sharing. But finally, Dinah felt she had to say something, “We should probably head back out there.”_

_“Yes,” Helena agreed and look down at the floor. She hesitated and Dinah could tell there was something in her mind. Dinah gave her time to sort her thoughts and say whatever she wanted, she had mastered this dynamic with Helena so they could effectively communicate, and it worked. She was proud to believe that Helena probably talked to her more than anyone else, and she loved to listen to her. However, Dinah wasn’t prepared for what would come next. When Helena looked back up to meet her eyes, she did so slowly, so slowly, her eyes taking their time in traveling up Dinah’s body. When they finally made eye contact, Helena blurted out, “You look really good today.”_

_Helena immediately turned on her heel and went out the door. Completely speechless, Dinah was left behind, her mouth open in surprise but with nothing to say. Her only thought was, did she mean that in a friendly way?_

When their laughter died out, Dinah was delighted to see that they had drifted closer in bed, and now they were both pretty much in the middle of it. It was undeniable that Helena was flustered, blushing and with an anxious little frown on her face. But something in her heart told Dinah that Helena wasn’t going to pull away, not right now.

“Please don’t do that,” Dinah said, “I’d die without the meaningless stuff we keep in the higher shelves.”

Helena didn’t immediately reply. The smile in her face was barely there, which for Dinah it was even better, it meant Helena didn’t even notice she was smiling. The feeling of being responsible for the joy of the woman that had known so much pain and brutality, it made Dinah feel like her heart was about to burst out of her chest. Also, knowing that a new step needed to be taken and that Helena most likely wouldn’t take the initiative…

“Hey, Helena, I have a question,” she started, and after receiving a small nod from the other woman she asked, “How good are you at, um, serious talk?”

Helena lifted her eyebrows in surprise. “I am… obviously great, why’d you ask?” Her deadpan answer made Dinah nearly lose her resolve. She cracked in a laugh difficult to contain. Helena was delighted with the results of her joke, this was unusual for her, but she thought maybe she should try it more often. However, she felt a pang of worry, thinking that Dinah had surely expected a real answer. She lowered her voice to a whisper and added, “I’m not good at any type of talking, Dinah.”

After calming herself down and regaining her breathing, Dinah nodded, “I know, I know. I just… I want to talk about something with you. And I’m hoping you won’t run away and, or, punch me in the face.”

Helena looked horrified at the suggestion, “I would never!”

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m joking, I know you wouldn’t,” Dinah quickly amended, placing a comforting hand over Helena’s shoulder, and noticing that it might have the opposite effect for Helena immediately tensed, and Dinah could swear she felt the goosebumps appear on her skin. She couldn’t help but say something about it, “Helena… you know you can relax with me, right? It’s just me.”

When Helena looked far from convinced by that statement, Dinah sighed and pulled her hand away. It was almost comical the way that losing the contact of Dinah’s hand simultaneously relaxed but seemed to disappoint Helena. Dinah noticed this.

“Okay, I’ll try to make this easy for you. Just, answer me honestly, alright?”

“I guess.”

Helena nodded. She had no idea how she ended up in this situation. In the time it took for Dinah to figure out how to proceed, Helena tried to make a recount of the events that lead her to this moment of massive anxiety and near terror. But Dinah wasn’t terrifying, but quite the opposite. And Helena couldn’t figure out how they ended up here. She knew Dinah almost got hurt, which completely demolished her own emotional walls and it would’ve physically pained her to step away from the other woman. But she started to suspect that this tender and ethereal moment they were sharing wasn’t made possible because of the previous events of the night, but because of a million other little moments before. 

Helena realized that she was there because when they first met they had aimed their weapons at each other, but somehow the second thing Dinah told her was “I love this chick,” and didn’t cower from her rage. Dinah never cowered away, never backed down, never gave up on her. Because Dinah treated her like she was incredibly human, capable of the same things as she was, even though Helena used to think she was only capable of revenge and murder, she was starting to think she was capable of more, thanks to Dinah. She was there because Dinah smiled at her even without a reason. She was there because Dinah made fun of her, trusting she’d know how to (learn) to take it. She was there because Dinah was patient, and kind, and beautiful, and maybe wanted her there.

“Do you like being on a team with me?” Dinah eventually asked, shaking Helena from her entangled thoughts.

“Yes,” Helena replied confidently.

Dinah looked pleased, which only encouraged Helena.

“Do you like hanging out with me, even if it makes you nervous?”

“You notice?”

“Just answer me.”

Dinah laughed affectionately. and Helena simply nodded in response.

“Alright, next question then,” Dinah continued, “Do you like… me, as a friend?” She received another confident nod from Helena. “Do you… think I’m beautiful?” She knew she was starting to push her luck, but she was pleasantly surprised by the answer.

“Yes, very beautiful,” Helena replied, confidently and without hesitation. She even surprised herself, but she couldn’t help it. That question hadn’t been about her, she thought, it was about Dinah’s beauty, something that Helena found so wonderful, so true, so undeniable.

Even in the dim light, Helena thought she could see a hint of red rush to Dinah’s cheeks. She couldn’t really believe she’d be the cause of it, but Helena knew that if this was even a quarter of how she reacted when Dinah talked, touched, or looked at her, no wonder the woman had noticed she made her nervous.

“Okay, good,” Dinah cleared her throat, “Um, last question, okay?” She took her time to say it though, instead she stared for a long time into Helena’s eyes, long enough for the warmth and kindness in her eyes to melt the first wall of uneasiness that immediately showed in Helena. Then, when she was sure, she asked, “Do you like me as more than a friend?” and she couldn’t hide her smile, feeling like she was a little girl asking these questions, and not completely hating it but being endeared by it.

However, Helena’s response was the complete opposite of what Dinah had wanted. The taller woman groaned and rolled onto her back. She covered her face with both hands and then ran them through her hair, pulling lightly. “Why do you ask me this? I’m gonna fuck up!” Helena grumbled angrily.

“No, you couldn’t possibly fuck this up, I promise,” Dinah fought back. She pushed herself up on one arm and with her other hand, she pried Helena’s hands away from her face. “We’re learning here, okay? Together.”

“What do you mean?” Helena asked, “What have you learned?” She was still frowning, though now she didn’t look as angry at herself, it was just her usual confused frown, the one Dinah knew was harmless.

“I mean… I’ve learned that you’re definitely helpless with words,” Dinah chuckled, “But, that just means we have to find a different way for you to relax and tell me how you feel.”

Helena’s frown only deepened. She figured that if Dinah asked her to make a drawing or write a song she might as well leave Gotham and go back to Sicily.

“Do you trust me?” Dinah asked when Helena didn’t say anything.

“Completely,” Helena replied with a nod.

The way Helena spoke rather than simply nodding when presented with what she considered an important question (like Dinah’s beauty), warmed Dinah’s heart. It was the last encouragement she needed.

Helena was still lying on her back and Dinah was beside her, holding herself up with an elbow, looking down at Helena with a mixture of wonder, affection and million other things that made Helena’s heartbeat speed up. Ever so slowly, Dinah moved her other hand toward Helena’s face. Helena immediately tensed and the moment that Dinah’s fingertips made contact with her cheek, she closed her eyes tightly. It was an internal struggle. For fifteen years Helena had been trained for killing and nothing else. She had no training whatsoever on how to give or receive this amount of tenderness that made her feel like her body was cracking open, or melting, or simply evaporating under another woman’s touch. But she needed just this to figure out that perhaps she didn’t need training for this. Practice would have helped, certainly, but to Helena’s surprise, her body started to relax on its own, knowing this felt good and safe and she wanted more. Dinah’s fingertips had traced her cheek, her jaw, her thumb had graced her bottom lip and finally, it had traveled to Helena’s hair, where she entertained herself playing with it in the most soothing gesture Helena had experienced since she was a little girl

When Helena opened her eyes again, she noticed Dinah was closer than before. She was leaning in closer and closer. The situation made Helena feel like her brain going through a short circuit, and her heart would explode and breathing was turning so difficult that a small part of her brain had time to wonder if perhaps Dinah had her hands wrapped around her throat and was trying to kill her. But when she was impossibly close, Dinah stopped. She stayed there, just hovering above Helena’s lips. Right then Helena was convinced that her brain did shortcircuit because then the rest of her body seemed to catch an electric wave that made all of her shake in anticipation. She made the final move.

The kiss was hesitant at first, a little clumsy, but determined. Dinah’s hand cradled Helena’s jaw and her lips guided her, slow and steady, impossibly soft and sweet. It was maddening in the best possible way. Helena tried her best and gave everything she had in that kiss. Most coherent thoughts left her brain, she only had the strength to wonder how… how… how did Dinah _know?_ How did she know exactly how to treat Helena, how to guide her, when to keep pushing and when to retreat, how did she mastered that gentle persistence that was capable of cracking down any and all defenses inside her?

After a while, Dinah pulled away, much to Helena’s disappointment. Dinah laid back down on her side, staring at Helena. Her eyes were sparkling with something new. For Helena, Dinah always looked beautiful and much more than that. She knew the extraordinary power Dinah carried in her, but this new magic that showed in the spark of her eyes was something completely different. That, in addition to the pleased smile on her lips, those lips that Helena finally had a chance to discover how soft and sweet they were, was enough to make her feel like she was going crazy.

“Kiss me again,” Dinah whispered, and she was delighted to see Helena immediately nod.

“Okay.”

She took her time though. On one hand, she wanted to memorize this moment forever, but she also couldn’t help overthink how she should proceed. Her brain was to working in overdrive, but knowing what Dinah wanted, and knowing that it was her, something inside Helena clicked. This wasn’t that scary anymore, she had a new mission, and that was pleasing Dinah on anything she wanted from her. If she wanted a kiss…

Helena tightened her hand in a fist and took a deep breath. When she exhaled her body relaxed considerably. She loosened her fist and hesitantly moved her hand to rest it lightly on Dinah’s waist. Not missing a beat, Dinah placed her own hand on top of Helena’s, gave her an encouraging squeeze, which Helena responded to by tightening her hold and moving closer to Dinah.

Right before Helena’s lips met hers, Dinah whispered, “We can take this slowly, okay? One step at a time. You and me, Huntress.”

Hearing her name on Dinah’s lips was too much and Helena couldn’t hold back any longer. She kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her. They were together in wishing that exhaustion would never catch up to them, but inevitably it did. It wasn’t so bad though, not when they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

The next morning, Dinah went through an interesting journey of emotions. She was quickly disappointed to find herself alone in bed. She was suddenly scared Helena might feel regret or her fears had returned stronger than ever and she’d run away. Dinah got dressed quickly and worked on masking her worries. When she walked into the kitchen area of their headquarters, she found Renee hunched over a cup of coffee and Harley and Cass still there, finishing what was probably a second or third bowl of cereal each.

“Morning,” Dinah greeted them, grabbing a cup of coffee for herself, “how’s everyone doing?”

“If you’re trying to subtly ask about the Crossbow Killer, she left,” Harley was the one to answer trying to keep her face as serious as possible.

“ _What?!_ ”

“Oh yeah. Packed her bow and arrow and off to Italy she went.”

Harley tried to mask her smirk by picking up the bowl of cereal and drinking from it. But Cass just broke down laughing, even Renee chuckled.

“Cass,” Dinah grumbled, silently asking for the truth.

“You should have seen your face!” Cass continued to laugh, but when she calmed down enough she shrugged, “she’s in the pool.”

She received a questioning frown from Dinah, “We don’t have a pool.”

“No shit,” Cass mimicked her frown, but then she explained. “There’s a pool next door and Harley scared off the owners so we could use it.”

“There was a little bit of violence, I mean _fun_ , involved. My baby Bruce did most of the job,” Harley proudly added. She rested her chin on her hand and smiled at Dinah as if she knew all her secrets.

At this point, Renee stood up to refill her cup of coffee. When she was close enough to Dinah she said, “Apparently, Helena thought she was too slow to save you last night. Now she wants to practice her swimming skill to perfection.”

“Oh,” Dinah replied, cursing herself for not being able to find actual words to reply, hoping she wasn’t blushing, and trying to hide her smile by taking a sip of the coffee. She was surprised to hear Renee laugh from beside her, where she was studying her face.

“Ugh, you too,” Renee rolled her eyes.

“What?”

“You have lovesick fool written all over your face too.”

Dinah punched her arm in response. Light enough that it was still friendly, but not too light because Renee could take it and also she deserved it for that. Dinah had a question on the tip of her tongue that she was trying to hold back, but Harley seemed to read her mind.

“You should have seen the other one,” she exclaimed, clapping her hands, “she was _adorable_. All messy and flustered as always but more! I don’t get it though. I didn’t hear any noises coming from your direction last night. Either you’re too boring or too quiet, I’m gonna need details, Canary.”

Dinah rolled her eyes, “Harley, you creep,” and she started walking away to the back door of the warehouse.

“Where are you going?” Cass called after her.

When she was standing by the open door, Dinah turned to her friends with a proud smirk on her face, “To check on my girlfriend, of course.”

When Dinah made it to the pool, things started to make sense. There were tables turned upside down, a splash of pink paint and glitter in one wall nearby and there was a chair still burning. There even were some knives and arrows laying around that Dinah just knew Harley had stolen from Helena. In any way, those things didn’t matter to Dinah. All her attention was focused on the body rapidly swimming from one end of the pool to another. A smile pulled at her lips and she just stood there, watching. Helena was all strength and determination, definitely getting faster and faster.

Eventually, Helena stopped to catch her breath, which proved to be difficult once her eyes landed on Dinah standing right beside the pool. After successfully not drowning at the sight of her, Helena’s need to be closer to Dinah overpowered her fears and she swam to the side of the pool. She rested her arms outside of the pool and her chin on them. She tried and failed to hold back her eager smile at watching Dinah walk even closer to her and kneel right in front. 

“Good morning, beautiful” Dinah smiled.

“Morning,” Helena mumbled, she was still a little breathless, for more than one reason, and now starting to blush.

“I see you’ve been busy,” Dinah commented, taking a look around. She decided not to comment on Helena’s sudden need to practice swimming less than twenty-four hours after rescuing Dinah from the water, and instead, she said what she was really thinking about, “You look really good.”

It was true. Helena probably didn’t even own a swimsuit so she was just in a sports bra and underwear. There were drops of water on every glorious inch of skin that Dinah could see. Her strong arms were holding her up, her biceps tense and drawing Dinah’s attention. Her short hair looked completely black, it was wet and slicked back save for a few strands that stick to her skin, making the sight the most gorgeous thing Dinah could remember seeing.

“You too,” Helena stuttered, “Always.” She feared the tremor in her voice made her look pathetic, but the bright smile that appeared on Dinah’s face made it worth it.

Dinah’s smile then changed a little bit, turned a little playful. It made Helena’s heart skip a bit. She was trained to predict an attacker’s next move from a simple change in their expression. She could tell, just from that shift in her smile, that Dinah was about to say something that could probably kill her. She couldn’t wait to hear it.

“Hey, just a heads up, I totally just called you my girlfriend in front of the others, so…” she drifted off, a smug smile on her face until… “Helena!” she exclaimed and quickly reached out to wrap a hand around the other woman’s arm.

Upon hearing the word “Girlfriend” Helena had gone suddenly still and her body had started going down into the water. Brought back to her senses, Helena reached up and held herself back up, spluttering a little bit of water and coughing for a second or two.

“Are you okay?” Dinah asked, her voice was dangling from a fine line between worry and laughter.

“I’m okay, I’m - fuck, I’m okay,” Helena was even more breathless. She closed her eyes tightly and added, “That’s okay too. The thing you said. The…”

“Girlfriend thing?” Dinah finished the sentence for her, her voice now settled on amusement.

“Yeah,” Helena sighed and looked up to meet Dinah’s eyes, “I like it.”

“Me too,” Dinah whispered. As if the otherworldly tenderness in her voice was not enough to simultaneously warm Helena’s entire body and make goosebumps show in her skin, she also reached out to run her fingers through Helena’s hair, taking pleasure in the way Helena seemed to relax under her touch. “I want to ask you something.”

“Yes?”

“I want to get in this pool with you, but do you think you’ll drown if I were to just take off my clothes right now and jump in there?”

“Probably,”

Helena replied honestly, her voice breaking in the middle of the word due to the incoming heart-attack. But smiled widely and sincerely, and even more when she heard Dinah laughing. Dinah just broke down laughing at Helena’s answer. The sound was the most beautiful and new favorite thing that Helena had ever heard. She even chuckled alongside her, and together they relished the moment the shared right there, looking forward to a million more moments like that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I really hope you liked it. Please leave comments, tell me what you think, give suggestions in case you want me to write more.....  
> I have another one shot of helena and dinah, a classic helena gets hurt fic, highly recommend it lol  
> You can find me on tumblr @afterlaughy and please come talk to me about this movie this wonderful couple and how gay this all is  
> Thanks again!!


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